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The NFL brings its first regular season game to Paris on Sunday morning.
The Pittsburgh Steelers face the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France.
Kickoff is set for 9:30 a.m. Eastern on NFL Network.
Pittsburgh arrives at 4 and 2. New Orleans arrives at 2 and 4.
The Saints are the designated home team for this Week 7 meeting.
Paris is the sixth of a record nine international games this season.
Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and three games in London came before it.
Madrid, Munich and Mexico City are still to come on the schedule.
But this debut has been overshadowed by unrest across France all week.
Major Takeaways
Sunday marks the first regular season NFL game ever played in France.
France saw some of its worst urban unrest in years last weekend.
Paris police moved a major soccer match from Sunday to Monday.
The NFL says the game was never at risk of being moved.
Aaron Rodgers sits one touchdown pass from passing Peyton Manning.
Alvin Kamara just joined one of the rarest clubs in league history.
Paris Unrest Puts Security at the Center of Game Week
Rioting and looting swept Paris and other French cities on October 17.
About 2,400 people were arrested across the country last weekend.
Authorities said thousands of businesses were damaged or looted.
The violence included clashes with police and vehicle fires.
Public buildings were attacked in several cities as well.
It came alongside largely peaceful demonstrations by hundreds of thousands.
Those crowds marched over rising living costs and conditions in schools.
President Emmanuel Macron tightened curbs on protests on Thursday.
More demonstrations are planned for Saturday, October 24.
They are expected to begin around Place de la Bastille.
Stade de France sits about 10 kilometres north of that spot.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised a massive security operation.
Troops will reinforce police for the Saturday demonstrations.
The United States State Department issued a security alert Thursday night.
It told Americans to avoid demonstrations and areas of unrest.
It said fans in Paris for the Sunday game should exercise caution.
It warned that protest routes can change at the last minute.
League and Steelers Say the Paris Game Goes Forward
Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the situation on Wednesday.
He said he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
League officials remain in contact with authorities in Paris and France.
Goodell said protests are not unusual in France.
He said the league has made all the preparations.
League executive Peter O’Reilly spoke at the owners meetings in New York.
He said the game was never at risk of being moved.
He said the league security team has been in France for days.
That team is coordinating with Paris and national authorities.
O’Reilly said the league is confident in its security plans.
He said the league is being very vigilant in all its planning.
Security will be increased for Sunday at Stade de France.
Still, the week has already lost events around the game.
A Steelers fan event in the Bastille neighbourhood was cancelled Thursday.
Paris police then moved the Paris Saint Germain match with Lyon.
That soccer match was set for Sunday night at Parc des Princes.
Police ordered it off Sunday, and it will now be played Monday.
A league match in Toulouse was also moved from Saturday to Sunday.
Read more in our Football coverage as Week 7 unfolds.
Storm Austen Scrambles the Final Paris Preparations
The weather joined the unrest in disrupting both teams this week.
Storm Austen has hit part of the country in recent days.
The national weather agency issued orange alerts for the northwest.
Those alerts include the Paris region heading into the weekend.
The Steelers landed in France on Friday morning after flying overnight.
Their planned practice at Stade de France was cancelled.
Wind and light rain greeted the team on arrival.
The session was called off 90 minutes before its 11 a.m. start.
The Friday press conference was moved to a downtown hotel.
Aaron Rodgers spoke there and backed the decision to play.
The four time MVP said the league is alert to the situation.
He said this game means a lot to the NFL.
He said the league would not be here if it were unsafe.
The Saints arrived in France on Monday and based themselves in Versailles.
They practice at Stade Municipal Montbauron outside the capital.
They came to Paris directly from New York after beating the Giants.
Wind and rain also closed their Friday practice to media viewing.
The league cancelled a fan event on Friday because of the weather.
Rodgers Chases Manning While Shough Plays Through Pain
Rodgers is 42 years old and in his 22nd season.
His two touchdown passes at Tampa Bay lifted his career total to 539.
That ties him with Peyton Manning for third place all time.
One more touchdown pass on Sunday moves him past Manning.
Only Tom Brady and Drew Brees would sit above him then.
Rodgers has 12 touchdown passes and five interceptions this season.
He has thrown multiple scoring passes in four straight games.
Pittsburgh rallied from 13 points down to beat Tampa Bay in overtime.
Rodgers led a 70 yard drive to win that game.
The Steelers have won two straight since losing at Cleveland.
They sit level with Cleveland and Baltimore atop the AFC North.
Across the field, Tyler Shough is authoring a toughness story.
Shough accounted for four touchdowns in the win over the Giants.
He threw scores to Bryce Lance, Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave.
He then ran one in himself to complete the comeback.
New Orleans fell behind 10 to 0 before scoring 34 straight points.
The Saints held on for a 34 to 27 win at MetLife Stadium.
Shough has played with two broken bones in one hand since Week 4.
The injury is to the hand he does not throw with.
He said it has not really affected him on the field.
He said it is getting better every single day.
Kamara, Metcalf and a Paris Stage Built for Black Stars
Kamara reached a rare milestone in that Giants win.
His 31 yard touchdown catch was the 90th touchdown of his career.
He finished with 34 rushing yards and 35 receiving yards.
He also became just the sixth player with 5,000 rushing yards.
He paired that with at least 5,000 receiving yards in his career.
Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen and Christian McCaffrey are in that club.
Tiki Barber and Lenny Moore complete the remarkable list.
Olave remains the top target for Shough this season.
He has 43 catches for 580 yards through six games.
Pittsburgh counters with DK Metcalf and rookie Germie Bernard.
That pair combined for 22 catches against Tampa Bay.
Bernard caught 11 passes for 87 yards in that overtime win.
His six yard touchdown catch in overtime was the game winner.
It was also the first touchdown of his NFL career.
Jaylen Warren powers the Steelers ground game every week.
Warren has 460 rushing yards at 5.5 yards per carry.
He has added 258 more yards as a receiver this season.
New Orleans allows 29.7 points per game, tied for the league worst.
The Saints also allow 4.8 yards per carry on the ground.
Follow every angle in our Sports section this weekend.
What Paris Means for New Orleans and Its Fans Back Home
New Orleans is the designated home team, and that cuts deep.
The Saints belong to one of the Blackest big cities in America.
The Who Dat Nation is family, church, brass bands and Sunday ritual.
Now that home game sits an ocean away from the Superdome.
Most working fans back home will watch at 8:30 a.m. Central.
They will watch over coffee and breakfast instead of in the Dome.
The men on the field tell a fuller story, though.
Kamara, Olave, Metcalf, Warren and Chase Young are Black stars.
Cam Jordan leads the Saints pass rush in his 16th season.
Jordan is the all time sack leader in Saints history.
Young summed up his assignment against Rodgers in plain words.
He said the mission stays the same on Sunday.
Stay alert, get off on the snap and go get him.
Jalen Ramsey anchors the Pittsburgh secondary through a fractured wrist.
He sacked the Tampa Bay quarterback twice last week.
His second sack came on fourth down in overtime to seal it.
T. J. Watt leads that rush with 4.5 sacks and a pick six.
Saint Denis is a working class suburb with deep immigrant roots.
Its residents know the cost of living fight in those streets.
Black fans watching at home know that fight just as well.
That shared ground gives this strange, tense weekend real weight.
New Orleans leads the all time series with Pittsburgh 9 to 8.
Pittsburgh won the last meeting 20 to 10 in November 2022.
The Saints have not beaten the Steelers since 2018.
A win would pull New Orleans closer in the NFC South race.
The Saints sit 1.5 games behind the first place Carolina Panthers.
A win before their Week 8 bye would change their season.
Our Thursday night preview shows how fast this week is moving.
